For the first time since its introduction on the F1 calendar in 1996, the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne has been modified, in order to better suit the new generation of cars that debuted in 2022.

Many drivers have been pleased with the upgrades made, as, to some of them, including Kevin Magnussen, such improvements appeared to have made overtaking not as hard as in the past.

Asked by MotorLat in the post-qualifying press conference, the Danish driver expressed his liking for the improved version of the Australian track F1 was racing in.

"I like the new layout, I think it's fun. I really liked the old track, but I think they really did a pretty good job with the changes they have made. They made it a little more overtake friendly, so in the situation we're in today and we are going to be in tomorrow it's a good thing, you know?"

The track changes, which involved the enlargement of a number of corners and the provisional introduction of 4 DRS zones, reduced to three on Saturday, have been for the best and will improve the entertainment offered by the drivers, in Magnussen's opinion.

"With the old track it would have been tough starting in P17, I don't think this track is still one of the easiest tracks to overtake, but it's certainly better than in the past."

"Hopefully that should give us a more entertaining race for tomorrow."

Among its overall restyling, the entire track has also been freshly resurfaced, with some drivers, including Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, bringing it up as a reason to explain unusual tyre behaviour and lack of grip. The Haas driver said that he too had noticed a "not very typical" increased difficulty in handling tyre preparation, especially while running the softest compound available:

"This weekend we have got C5 as the soft tyre and as medium C3, so that's a one compound jump from softs to medium. It doesn't seem like two steps, but like they are closer, and actually the C5 is really hard to get working for the first flying lap."

"You really have to work it very hard on the outlap so it's not very typical of the softest compound that we have got to behave like this. It's interesting, and it's part of the learning right now, to see how you can get the most out of these tyres."

For the first time since his return to the American team, Magnussen didn't score points, making up in the race only to P13 after not making the Q2 cut.

While teams that had significantly struggled in previous races really improved their performances, as McLaren went ahead to sign their first double points finish of the season in P5 and P6 in spite of a pointless race in Bahrain, Haas's pace didn't suit Albert Park as well as the Bahrain track, where it had been the Danish driver ending in the top 5.

Magnussen reckons it "makes sense" for the Woking-based team to do well in Melbourne, as they have proved to do better in high speed tracks.

"I think this track it's probably a bit more like Jeddah, compared to Bahrain, and I think it's hard to know what the characteristics are like for the other cars."

"But at least if you look at competitiveness, it seems to make sense that the McLaren is quick here because they were quick in Jeddah, compared to Bahrain."

"And also for ourselves, we were good in both Bahrain and Jeddah, but for some reason we haven't nailed it here. But, I think, with the higher speed circuit it looks like McLaren are stronger."

"We'll see, it's always a little bit up and down, and I think at least the midfield is closer this year than it has been for many years, so it's going to be an interesting fight," concluded the Haas driver who had scored his first podium at his F1 debut with McLaren on this same track.